Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl has an enviable job — following the U.S. men’s soccer team all over the world, covering Major League Soccer… and needling FIFA.

The Princeton graduate has reported on 12 NCAA basketball tournaments, five World Cups and three Olympic games. His first book, “The Beckham Experiment,” documented the LA Galaxy’s attempt to bring unprecedented cachet to the U.S. league (and sell jerseys).

Wahl also made a bid for the FIFA presidency last year in an effort to expose the kind of corruption that results in a Qatar winning a World Cup bid.

We caught up with Grant while he was in Italy preparing to cover the United States men’s national team’s historic first win against Italy …

Q: Generally, what are your thoughts on where the Rapids are headed under Tim Hinchey, the new president, and Oscar Pareja, the new coach? Is there reason for optimism?

A: I think so. It’s still early, and no competitive games have been played. But it’s an interesting and promising change that has been made. Obviously, Gary Smith won a championship with the Rapids. I don’t think you can ever be too, too critical of someone who won a championship. But if you are talking about an exciting style of play, I think that might be what we end up seeing here. This is a guy who wants to play a 4-3-3, who has brought a more probably Latino style and influence to the team. If it works, it could be a lot of fun to watch.

Q: That is the key phrase — ‘if’ it works. How do you make it work?

A: You need some time to install what he wants to do – time to get current players used to the system and time to bring in players who fit into the system. The (Jaime) Castrillon signing is a move in that direction. Yet at the same time, it sounds like he wants to keep (Pablo) Mastroeni and (Jeff) Larentowicz involved.

Q: You put together these MLS ambition ratings before the new Rapids brain trust was in place and ranked Colorado 16th of 19 teams. You mentioned Stan Kroenke as an absentee owner, the Rapids being relative cheapskates, and this lack of buzz in Denver. What can be done to move up the list?

St. Louis Rams team owner Stan Kroenke speaking at a press conference in January 2012.

A: A lot of the ambition rating is based on what I see coming from ownership. You have to give Kroenke credit for building the stadium. But there’s a lot more to doing things than just building a stadium. You don’t get a feel there is much buzz around the Rapids, around where they play or around the league. Potentially, if you are a fun team to watch and winning games, that could help, potentially a lot. I would like to see ownership in every market in MLS be more visible and come out publicly and say why they like the sport and believe in the sport. We don’t see Stan Kroenke ever doing much publicly with the Rapids.

Q: The Rapids’ stadium was built in the suburbs -– a close in suburb, but a suburb –- before you started seeing MLS clubs finding followings by locating their stadiums in downtown, urban areas. The team’s stadium is where it is. How do you make the best of it?

A: Good question. It’s part of a group of stadiums built around a certain time in MLS history, along with Dallas and Chicago, built in places that are not ideal. The urban stadium situation is a good way to go –- and Houston is going to show that again. What do you do if you’re Colorado? It’s easy for anyone to sit here and say sell more tickets. That’s the magic thing for any front office. It’s important. I know the hard-core fan support appears to be a little bit bigger than it used to be, which is good. You hope that continues to grow. Maybe we’ll see if there is more of a Latino influence on the team and style of play, more Hispanics will support the team.

Q: To whom does a team like this try to market? Suburban families? Die-hard fans and younger fans? Hispanic fans and families? Or all of them? And how hard is it to pull that off?

A: I think it’s possible. Look at what Kansas City has done with different sections of their stadium. They really are going after different groups. The seats that are behind the goal for hard-core fans are cheap but it’s a great place to watch the game and they’re filling it. And there’s a great bar in the far corner of the stadium where fans can come and watch before and after. Granted, it’s a $200 million stadium. But there is space not just for boxes for corporate types. There are fancy places where you can have dinner before the game. It’s high end, lower end, middle end. Look at where Kansas City was 5-6 years ago … They’ve done it right and are filling their seats.

Q: For Rapids fans, a big signing is a 22-year-old from Argentina with five goals to his credit. Even with designated players coming to some teams, the distance from other leagues in terms of quality still is great. Is the relative lack of marquee players on teams like Colorado a good thing or a bad thing?

A: We’ve seen success with MLS bringing in foreign players who are not designated players who make an impact. Look at Fabian Espíndola in Salt Lake, who came from Argentina. The team went about the scouting process, found him, brought him in. He’s not a designated player but he’s a very good player -– a starter, not a star, and very effective. There is certainly a place for players like this. It’s kind of case by case, who fits your team. If you can bring in a starter and not have him be a designated player, that’s probably a good move.

Q: Why did Conor Casey fall so far so fast from the U.S. Men’s National team picture in 2010? He scored two goals in qualifying against Honduras that got the U.S. into the World Cup, and then he didn’t make the team.

A: Casey is an interesting case. I guess the way I would answer that, trying to figure out how Bob Bradley was approaching it, qualifying for the World Cup is one thing, but it’s different from the World Cup itself. There may be certain players who might be effective in CONCACAF that you might not have confidence in the highest level of all at the World Cup. I thought Bradley would pick either Brian Ching (of the Houston Dynamo) or Casey, and it turned out he picked neither. With the Charlie Davies situation, he decided he wanted to pick a Robbie Findley, a speed guy, rather than a target man.

Q: David Beckham never seems to make it out to Colorado for Galaxy games. The Galaxy is in Colorado twice this year — what are the odds he shows up?

A: Pretty high, I think. The one thing he is going to be gone for is the Olympics. Other than that, I suspect he will. Arena has been very clear in saying Beckham does not have to play every game – that in fact, it’s good to give him a rest once in a while, given his age. They don’t feel like he has to play in every road game, like they felt obligated to in the first couple of years he was in the league to help owners in the league make some money. That was in return for owners to change the rules to allow for designated players in the first place. I know he didn’t like playing on turf, but that’s not turf out there. I expect him to play.

Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park gets a lot of grief for its location, but really I think it was a fairly shrewd play by Kroenke (not even touching the fact that Commerce City helped pay for the project). DSG Park is a few minutes north of I-70 and is on the doorstep of Stapleton, which should attract the types of individuals that are typically soccer/MLS fans (18-35 year old males with disposable income). With houses to be built in Northfield (directly south of the stadium) as soon as this year, people will start to realize Kroenke’s genius, he did make his money in real estate after all.

I’ve never heard this angle on it, I suppose it’s possible he was thinking that long term? Tho looking at his other teams around here, seems more likely he’s a “thrifty billionaire” (kinda sounds oxymoronic;) time will tell… & I hope you’re right!
Still, I was extremely dissappointed they didn’t do something downtown where the experience could be integrated into the nightlife/family outings/more centrally located downtown events. For me, being a West/North sider, Mile-High, etc. was great, tho I could see that not being ideal from other parts of the city. Now I’ll say I’ve been surprised how convenient the Dicks commute & experience has been (I especially appreciate the free parking & ease of access). I liken it to having a parade on the outskirts of town… not quite the same spectacle & vibe, tho it’s still fun.
I’m also very leary of disposing of such a successful/well liked coach (especially considering no backing for a dp or 2). But, very hopeful that a good choice has been made in Pareja, that his vision of “style” will be realized & the ownership has the commitment to give the club the financial support to excel long term!! I find it hard to comprehend Kroenke can pay some stiff on his bench in another sport more $, than the whole rapids budget… But, I guess that’s the nature of futbol in the USA! I’ll support Soccer in Colorado & for the USA til the day I die. Too bad it doesn’t get as much respect & coverage, as I would like… yet!!

thanks for the good article DP

Robberhino (Rapids fan ’96)… as well as Dynamo, Caribou & yes, the original Avalanche!

I agree that the stadium would be a much bigger draw downtown, but given where MLS and the Rapids were in 2007 I think that it would have been a pretty tough sell to get a soccer specific stadium built on the tax payers’ dime, which given the cost and complexity of building a stadium downtown would have been necessary.

My hope is that TH3, and the rest of the RFO, is successful in getting a jersey sponsor and putting butts in seats this year. I think that will go a long way towards removing the cloud of pessimism that seems to hover over most Rapids fans.

Before Jeff Plush was fired he had a friend of mine sit in the owner’s box with him because him and his dad put a Rapid’s flag on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro when they climbed it together. The most interesting thing he told them was that they had the opportunity to build Dick’s behind Union Station downtown. He said at the time they thought it was too expensive, but in hindsight he said it was the biggest mistake they’ve made as an organization. They’d have made the extra money up by now with increased ticket sales.